New to View: Nov. 29
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Nov. 29, unless otherwise noted:
Don’t Worry Darling (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2022, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Rated: R, sexuality, violent content, language
The lowdown: Before it was even released, this movie was mired in various controversies surrounding director Olivia Wilde and some cast members.
The film, though, did not generate its expected buzz.
The story centers on Alice, a 1950s housewife, played by Florence Pugh, living in a utopian experimental community of Victory, with her husband, Jack, played by Harry Styles.
Alice slowly begins to worry that Jack’s company, which is working on the top-secret Victory Project, may be hiding some disturbing secrets.
The community is dominated by Victory’s CEO, Frank (Chris Pine). Soon, Alice notices cracks beginning to develop in this so-called perfect environment.
The movie’s foundation cannot sustain its premise, leading to an unsatisfactory conclusion.
A majority of critics agreed, giving the movie a 38 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos (TrueHD), 5.1 Dolby digital descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English descriptive audio; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus components include a making of featurette and a deleted scene.
Bros: Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Release date: Nov. 22
Details: 2022, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R, sexual content, language, some drug use
The lowdown: “Bros” is a raucous and moving rom-com that offers equal dollops of laughs and love.
The LGBTQ+ feature, starring Billy Eichner — who cowrote the story with director Nicholas Stoller (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Neighbors,” “Neighbors 2,” “The Five-Year Engagement”) — is a smart and sexy movie about embracing the right partner, commitment and trust.
Eichner portrays Bobby, a force in the LGBTQ+ community because of his podcast, “The 11th Brick.”
Bobby is 40, single, self-reliant — and prefers one-night stands with gay men he meets on Tinder.
He has a small group of friends and his advocacy about all things gay reaches 11 on a scale of 10.
When Bobby spots Aaron on a crowded gay-club dance floor, his life changes. They make eye contact and eventually start talking.
Bobby doesn’t talk as much as he spews out whatever comes into his mind. He and Aaron chat for a few minutes, then Aaron disappears, only to reappear several minutes later. He seems cool and relaxed, the very opposite of the semi-neurotic Bobby.
“Bros” features all the familiar conventions of the genre — a cute meet, passion and sex, indecision about moving forward, fear of commitment and acceptance — all told through a gay perspective.
Eichner and Stoller’s script details how the LGBTQ+ community is not a monolithic culture; each group, be it gay men, lesbians, bisexual individuals and trans people, have agendas that sometimes conflict with other of the cultures.
The movie’s depiction of gay people as complicated and imperfect with foibles, hopes and fears — no different from members of the straight community — is a point of view that has been missing or ignored from mainstream movies for much too long.
The film impressed critics who awarded it an 88 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.0 DVS and French and Spanish 5.1 DTS digital surround; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English 2.0 DVS: English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include deleted scenes, a gag reel, a look at the cast and cameos, a featurette from start to finish of bringing the movie to life, a featurette on the importance of the movie’s representation, introductions to Bobby and Luke, Eiichner and Stoller discuss what makes a good rom-com, a look at the movie’s National LGBTQUA+ History Museum and the making of two deleted scenes.
Detective Story (Blu-ray)
Details: 1951, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: William Wyler directed this film adaptation of Sidney Kingsley’s hard-hitting Broadway drama.
Kirk Douglas stars as Jim McLeod, a stern detective with no tolerance for crime or offenders. At home, though, he is a loving husband to his wife, Mary (Eleanor Parker).
While the police are ready to close an investigation into abortionist Karl Schneider (George Macready), McLeod continues to prolong the case because of his hatred for the doctor.
While all the hustle and bustle of the precinct swirling around him, McLeod discovers a dark secret that could upend his sanity and ruin his life.
The movie, which costars William Bendix, Lee Grant, Joseph Wiseman and Horace McMahon, received four Academy Award nominations and received a 71 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: The major bonus feature is a commentary track by author-film historian Alan K. Rode.
“Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XI” (Blu-ray)
Details: 1948-56, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Another trio of movies that examine at the underbelly of society are featured in this set.
The movies are “A Woman’s Vengeance” (1948), starring Charles Boyer, Ann Blyth and Jessica Tandy, in a mystery about a wife’s murder and the husband arrested for the killing. The movie also features Cedric Hardwick, Mildred Natwick and Rachel Kempson. “I Was a Shoplifter” (1950) deals with the daughter of a judge who has been coerced into working for a professional shoplifting ring run by a ruthless pawnbroker. Scott Brady, Mona Freeman and Andrea King star.
Finally, “Behind the High Wall” (1956) is a prison-break drama in which a group of convicts escape, killing a guard in the process. They also kidnap the warden and force a reluctant inmate to accompany them. A car crash kills everyone but the warden and young inmate, with the warden showing his true colors by stealing $100,000 of the escapees’ money. To compound matters, he accuses the surviving inmate of the guard’s killing to cover up his own crime.
Tom Tully plays the warden and John Gavin portrays the inmate. The cast also includes Sylvia Sidney, John Larch, Don Beddoe and Barney Phillips.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture (“A Woman’s Vengeance” and “I Was a Shoplifter”) and 1.85:1 widescreen picture (“Behind the High Wall”); English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English and English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track on “A Woman’s Vengeance” is the main extra.
Entre Nous (Blu-ray)
Details: 1983, Cohen Film Collection
Rated: PG, sexual content, violence
The lowdown: Filmmaker Diane Kurys directed and wrote the screenplay for this semi-autobiographical feature that reimagines the world of her parents after World War II and the passionate friendship between two women, one of whom is her mother.
In 1942, Léna (Isabelle Huppert), a young Jewish woman in an internment camp run by Vichy authorities, accepts a marriage proposal from one of the camp’s workers in the hopes of escaping deportation to Nazi Germany.
The couple escape and camp and cross the Alps into Italy.
After the war, they return to France, settling in Lyon and raise two daughters. At a school event, Léna meets Madeleine (Miou-Miou), and the two form a close bond.
The French movie was nominated for a best foreign language film Academy Award.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; French DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: An interview with Kurys is the main extra.
Emergency Declaration (Blu-ray)
Details: 2021, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A Korean thriller about an investigation of a terrorist threat that goes viral during which authorities discover that a suspect has recently boarded a flight bound for the United States.
Intensity grows after a healthy passenger on that flight dies a gruesome death. The cause is unknown, creating a panic on board and on the ground.
Crisis piles upon crisis as the plane is running low on fuel and other nations refusing any aid, the captain and crew are forced to take unprecedented emergency procedures to save the lives of their passengers.
The action-based movie is almost a throwback to the “Airport” movies of the 1970s.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; Korean Dolby Atmos and 7.1 TrueHD and English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a making of featurette, a look at the characters and a look at the 360 shot.
A Knife in the Head (Blu-ray)
Details: 1978, Cohen Film Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Bruno Ganz stars in this German import as Hoffman, an innocent bystander who survives a gunshot to the head by the police during a raid on a group of revolutionaries.
To justify the shooting, the police falsely claim that he is a dangerous radical who attacked a police officer.
The leftist revolutionaries, in turn, portray him as a hero and victim of police brutality.
As Hoffman struggles to recover from the trauma to his brain and memory loss, he must try to piece together what really happened.
The film garnered an 83 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; German DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Interviews with director Reinhard Hauff and executive producer Eberhard Junkersdorf comprise the main extras.
Starship Troopers: 25th Anniversary Steelbook (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: Nov. 1
Details: 1997, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R, graphic and bloody violence, nudity, sexual content, language
The lowdown: Director Paul Verhoeven (“Basic Instinct,” “Showgirls,” “RoboCop”) helmed this adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s classic science-fiction story.
In the near future, humanity battling for survival with a race of bugs from the planet Klendathu.
What is more interesting than the war itself, is the societal makeup of Earth — a near-fascistlike society in which military service is a gateway to citizenship.
The cast is headed by Casper Van Dien as Johnny Rico, Denise Richards as Carmen Ibanez, Dina Meyer as Dizzy Flores, as well as Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Muldoon, Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside.
The movie’s 4K UHD upgrade is very sharp, adding to the overall enjoyment of this near-camp classic.
The movie received a 68 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p ultra high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos (7.1 TrueHD compatible), English and French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English and French 5.1 Dolby TrueHD and Spanish 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include a 25th anniversary cast reunion on the 4K Ultra HD disc, and, on the Blu-ray disc, a direct and cast commentary, a commentary with Verhoeven and screenwriter Ed Neumeier, a FedNet mode picture-in-picture option, a “Death From Above” documentary, “Know Your Foe” bug featurettes, a featurette on the movie’s spaceships, FX comparison featurettes, a making of featurette, deleted scenes, screen tests and scene development.
Picpus / Cécile Is Dead!: An Inspector Maigret double feature (Blu-ray)
Details: 1943-44, Kino Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Inspector Maigret was created by writer Georges Simenon, and the popularity of the books featuring the character led to a series of films.
Albert Préjean stars as the detective in “Picpus” (1943) and “Cécile Is Dead! (1944). The first film has Madame Dumont moving into her new Paris apartment where she discovers a dead body in her wardrobe.
Soon more corpses begin to pile up near the Picpus metro station and street. The dead include a clairvoyant, a blind man, a doctor and a real estate agent.
Maigret must unravel what all these people are connected and find the killer.
In “Cécile Is Dead!,” a young woman named Cécile continually comes to Quai des Orfèvres to see Maigret about disturbing events in her household.
Maigret and his colleagues grow annoyed — that is until the woman winds up dead. Maigret must solve the mystery of her death.
The movies will please fans of murder mysteries and the detective.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; French 2.0 DTS-HD monaural; English subtitles.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Origins of Hip-Hop (DVD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Summertime Dropouts (DVD & digital & VOD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
FOR KIDS
AINBO: Spirit of the Amazon (DVD & digital & VOD) (Shout! Kids)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Battle for Saipan (Saban Films-Paramount Pictures)
Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields (Netflix)
DASH (XYZ Films)
Please Baby Please (Music Box Films)
Welcome to Chippendales: Episode 3 (Hulu)
NOV. 30
Echo 3: Episode 4 (Apple TV+)
Willow (Disney+)
DEC. 1
Farha (Netflix)
The Harbinger (XYZ Films)
Merry & Gay (A Baker Production)
DEC. 2
Acapulco: Episode 8 (Apple TV+)
Clean Slate (Global Digital Releasing)
Darby and the Dead (Hulu)
Four Samosas (IFC Films)
Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (Greenwich Entertainment)
The Mosquito Coast: Season 2, Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
Mythic Quest: Episode 10 (Apple TV+)
Shantaram: Episode 10 (Apple TV+)
Slow Horses: Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV+)
DEC. 5
Back in the Groove: Episodes 1 & 2 (Hulu)
Mister Creep (Silent Raven Films)
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.